Friday, February 24, 2012

Sweeeeeet Life

I made homemade vegan truffles for my husband for Valentine's day. I used Ikea's heart shaped ice cube trays for that. One truffle was chocolate cherry (a mixture of melted chocolate chips with chopped cherries that was solidified in the fridge), and the other was chocolate with creamy peppermint centers. The chocolate with peppermint centers took me about an hour to make. I melted some vegan chocolate chips with a dab of melted vegan shortening that I stirred into a smooth, creamy consistency. Using a food paintbrush, I carefully brushed a thin layer inside of each heart shaped mold. I placed that into the freezer for a few minutes to firm up the chocolate. Meanwhile, I made the creamy centers by mixing vegan powdered sugar, a bit of almond milk and peppermint oil. I carefully filled each heart shaped shell with the creamy peppermint mixture and placed that into the freezer again, until it was firm. Then I brushed the tops with more melted chocolate and put everything into the fridge. About an hour later I gently removed the truffles from the tray. The results were beyond my expectations :-) My husband loved it very much and I enjoyed a few pieces as well. I will make it again soon.

I was craving a banana pudding recently so I made my own. I used Czech vegan vanilla pudding mix that I prepared in almond milk. I topped the pudding with bananas and broken animal crackers :-) Soooooo good!

About Me

I am a Czech Vegan living in America. I am working on my first vegan cookbook. On this blog I share my recipes, my thoughts on vegan living, vegan products reviews and other fun things. Two of my recipes were published in the Vegetarian Times magazine, as winning recipes in their recipe contests (November/December 2010 issue and September 2012 issue) and another recipe was published by Eating Well in the cookbook EatingWell Fast & Flavorful Meatless Meals: 150 Healthy Recipes Everyone Will Love (2011), and Eating Well magazine (August 2012 issue).
I love cooking and baking, running, and I enjoy veganizing Czech and American recipes. I am an animal rescuer, chocoholic and a tea lover.
I would like to mention that some of the products that I talk about on my blog were generously given to me with no obligation to write a positive review. If you make vegan products and want them to be featured and reviewed on my blog, let me know. You can email me at czechvegan (at) yahoo.com. My old email address czech.vegan (at) yahoo.com was compromised so I can no longer access it.